TRU LIES - RENEGES ON PROMISE TO GET TOUGH ON VENICE RV DUMPERS

Remember the headlines back in August of 2010 about homeless people living in recreational vehicles dumping human feces on the streets of Venice? The typically tolerant and progressive residents in Venice had enough and wanted action, and City Attorney Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich promised to "Get tough" and lock up the RV dumpers to let them know just how seriously he took residents' complaints.

Well things didn't turn out quite so well for the residents, but certainly went well for the RV dumpers. Trutanich reneged on his demand for "90 days in jail" and instead agreed to a "slap on the wrist" for the dumpers, dumped the residents of Venice, and then tried to blame a soft on crime judge for the less has satisfactory result (the dumpers got community service, not jail).

Let's be clear, nobody is defending the disgusting and dangerous practice of dumping bio-hazardous human waste on the streets of any community, and just because a person is unfortunate enough to find themselves homeless and forced to live in a RV is no excuse. But is is even worse that the City's "Top Cop" not only doesn't care, but tries to blame others for his actions.

Trutanich originally told Alex of "Yo! Venice" (a Venice community blog) that "they were taking the RV issue very seriously." Alex (who does not use his or her real name in fear of reprisals by the homeless community), had lead the fight against the RV dumpers, and apparently took photographic evidence of the offenders re-offending after being released from custody.

Trutanich also told the LA Times that 'he intended to file criminal charges against a motor home dweller who was arrested but released after serving two days in jail. "When it hits the fan, it hits my office too," Trutanich said of the dumping.'

Trutanich also  appeared on NBC's 'The Filter' where he told host Fred Roggin that "We are going to make sure this doesn't happen again in the city, ever." Roggin wrapped up the interview telling viewers that offenders faced 6 month is jail and $1,000 fine.

So how was it that despite Trutanich's threats of serious jail time, the only punishment was community service?

According to KFI reporter Steve Gregory Trutanich wanted them both to spend 90 days in jail. "The defendants decided they would not accept that offer," said Trutanich. "They plead open to the court on all counts and the judge sentenced them to probation."

Trutanich wants you to believe that the dumpers escaped his "90 days in jail" demand by "pleading open" to a judge who obviously did not take dumping human feces on the streets of Venice as seriously as Trutanich, Alex, or the rest of the Venice community.

But we believe that Trutanich was being less than honest in blaming the judge for the soft on crime sentence. The devil's in the details, so let's look at the details and try to unravel the web.

First of all, what exactly does "pleading open" mean? The short answer is that it means the dumper threw herself on the mercy of the judge and asked for an "indicated sentence." It happens when a person charged with a crime feels that the plea bargain deal being offered by the DA or the City Attorney is too severe.

So in this case, Lindsay Estilette (one of the two dumpers) with the help of her Public Defender must have said something like "Judge 90 days for what I did so too much, I have no record, and I'll never do it again, so what sentence would you give me if I plead guilty?"

Now this is not a one-sided conversation, and it occurs in open court, or at a side-bar conference with both sides. You can be sure that the judge would have asked the City Attorney the reasons for the 90 days in jail sentence. Having heard from both sides, the judge would have said something like "If you plead open to the court, I'll give you no jail time and community service," and the City Attorney can do nothing about it.

We just said the City Attorney can do nothing about it, and usually that is the case. Judges can and do undercut the offers made by DAs and CAs and there's nothing that "the People" can do about it.

Remember, though, we also said the devil's in the details.  In this case, Lindsay Estilette and her co-defendant were not throwing themselves on the mercy of a judge, rather it was a Court Commissioner - Mark Zuckman to be precise. A Court Commissioner is not a judge, and that's a huge detail that Trutanich probably doesn't want you to know.

A Court Commissioner  does not have the same power as a judge. In fact, under the California Constitution Article 6, Section 22 and California Rules of Civil Procedure 259, unless both sides "stipulate" (i.e. agree) to a Commissioner having power, there is very little that a Commissioner can do other than routine non-contested "ministerial" functions.

So in this case there really was something Trutanich could have done to avoid the slap on the wrist; Trutanich could have refused to "stipulate" to Commissioner Zuckman and insist that a Judge hears the case.
Don't forget that Judges are elected by the voters and, perhaps, are more in touch with sentiments in the community and might well have believed that the outrageous actions of the defendants deceives more than a slap on the wrist. What Trutanich could and should have done was insist on a Judge, maybe that way justice would have been done.

But Trutanich didn't insist on a Judge, didn't argue the facts to a Judge, and instead tried to hide behind a so-called "open plea" to a Commissioner that he did not have to agree to. There's a word for that, and you know what it is.

Trutanich's blogger was too busy buying what Trutanich was selling to ask questions and probe the details (the so-called "City Hall Insider" appears to be part of Trutanich's misinformation team). Now, through TRU is False you know the facts and you can decide. We believe that Trutanich just blowing smoke claiming to "Get tough" on the RV dumpers, and that he instead dumped on the residents of Venice.

You might be wondering why Trutanich would chose to dump on his own constituency and not play hard ball with the RV dumpers. We believe Trutanich had his reasons, and you won't like them any more than Trutanich will like you finding out that TRU is False.

TRU LIES - When is a "Criminal Prosecutor" NOT?

Short Answer: When Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich has anything to do with it.

Satirical parody of a "fixer"

 Rumors now point to Los Angeles City Attorney, Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich, as being at the center of a cynical conspiracy to mislead voters into voting for an unqualified candidate.

In November's mid term elections voters faced with choices about unknown candidates usually voted according to party affiliation. But with important "non partisan" races, such as those for Superior Court Judges, voters often have nothing to go on but the candidates' name and ballot designation; three words that are supposed to inform voters about a candidate's occupation.

In the race for Judicial Office Number 117, voters were faced with a choice between  Alan Schneider, a "Gang Homicide Prosecutor" and Tom Griego, a "Criminal Prosecutor." A hard choice as both candidates appear to do the things that voters approve of - putting bad guys in jail.

But in the case of Tom Griego, voters could not have known that according to the Metropolitan News Enterprise, the closest Griego ever got to putting anyone in jail for the past 10 years, was sitting at a desk reading a manual about crime. So how was it that Griego was able to obtain what the Met News called a "misleading" ballot designation?

The answer appears to be that Trutanich manipulated things so that Griego could fool voters who knew nothing about him. Griego, a civil lawyer in the City Attorney's office, requested a transfer to the criminal division for the sole purpose of being able to call himself a "Criminal Prosecutor," when the truth was that he was nothing of the sort.

Trutanich surprisingly agreed to the transfer even though at the same time he was telling everyone that the budget crisis meant he needed as many lawyers as possible to transfer to the civil division because the Airport, Port and DWP pay for legal services. So, the only reason for Trutanich to transfer Griego out of civil must been to "make it happen" and aid and abet voter deception.

Maybe Trutanich thought a little deception is not such a bad thing, after all, he called himself an "Environmental Lawyer" because he defended environmental criminals. But in the case of Griego, Trutanich not only allowed this deception to be conducted in his name (Trutanich endorsed Griego) but he also kept back one important fact about Griego's ability to be a judge. The Los Angeles County Bar Association routinely assesses the qualifications of those who seek to become judges. In the case of Griego's opponent LACBA rated Alan Schneider as "Well Qualified." But Griego? LACBA rated Griego "Not Qualified." Nevertheless, Trutanich thought it was 'OK' to try to sick an unqualified candidate on the electorate, all nicely dressed up with an endorsement and an attractive ballot designation.

Many will find Trutanich's central role in this conspiracy to con the public deeply disturbing. Trutanich campaigned on "Honesty" and "Openness" and "Transparency," and should have been the one person you would expect to do everything in his power to prevent this obfuscation of justice. But that's all part of Tutanich's facade, and it's disgusting.

Other blogs  raised questions about Tom Griego, but TRU is False tells you the rest of the story.

Carmen The Clown Kills The Neighborhood Prosecutor Program

On Sunday November 7, 2010, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen "The Clown" Trutanich had gone back on yet another promise and had effectively shut down the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program.

According to the report, Trutanich did not comment directly, but instead hid behind the statements of a chief deputy who blamed the budget cuts for the need to trim down the program to the point where most believe that it will cease to exist. The NPP was started by Trutanich's predecessor, Rocky Delgadillo, and has earned praise as well as the admiration of blighted communities for the way it finds innovative and non-conventional solutions.

According to the Daily News "From 2002 through April of this year, neighborhood prosecutors at 19 police stations attended more than 27,000 community meetings, handled more than 20,000 complaints and prosecuted nearly 9,000 criminal cases, with a conviction rate of nearly 90 percent." That's an impressive success rate, and that's likely the problem; it's Delgadillo's success, not Trutanich's.

Trutanich, who many accuse of being a bully, control freak and an egoist, may have become increasingly upset when he found that his Neighborhood Prosecutors had developed strong bonds with the communities they served. Bonds that were, perhaps, stronger than his own.

It was an open secret that Trutanich resented the fact that many of the Neighborhood Prosecutors were active politically in their spare time. Perhaps if they had been active Republicans Trutanich wouldn't have had a problem with them or the Neighborhood Prosecutor Program. But, of course, they were all Democrats, so perhaps Trutanich cut them off and closed down the program so that he couldn't be accused of bias.

And while Trutanich hides behind one of his chief deputies, and uses the budget as "cover" to kill off political opponents and a valuable program, his cover may get a little thin when questions start to be asked about how his budget was able to stretch to allow Tom Griego, a highly paid civil lawyer in his office, to be transferred to the criminal division just so Griego could call himself a "Criminal Prosecutor" in a run to become a judge. According to the Metropolitan News Enterprise, apparently all Griego did in the criminal division was "read manuals" about crime while drawing a high City salary.

Maybe that 'budget' cover wasn't such a good idea. Remember, we're here to show you what is, and what is not TRU.